Finite Element Analysis of the Contact Mechanics of Ceramic-on-Ceramic Hip Resurfacing Prostheses

Ceramics are good alternative to metal as bearing couple materials because of their better wear resistance. A Finite Element(FE) study was performed to investigate the contact mechanics and stress distribution of Ceramic-on-Ceramic (COC) hip resurfacingprostheses. It was focused in particular on a parametric study to examine the effects of radial clearance, loading,alumina coating on the implants, bone quality, and fixation of cup-bone interface. It was found that a reduction in the radialclearance had the most significant effect on the predicted contact pressure distribution among all of the parameters considered inthis study. It was determined that there was a significant influence of non-metallic materials, such as the bone underneath thebearing components, on the predicted contact mechanics. Stress shielding within the bone tissue was found to be a major concernwhen regarding the use of ceramic as an alternative to metallic resurfacing prostheses. Therefore, using alumina implantswith a metal backing was found to be the best design for ceramic resurfacing prostheses in this study. The loading, bone quality,and acetabular cup fixation conditions were found to have only minor effects on the predicted contact pressure distribution alongthe bearing surfaces.

APolygonal Discontinuous Galerkin Formulation for Contact Mechanics in Fluid-Structure Interaction Problems

In this work,we propose a formulation based on the Polygonal Discontinuous Galerkin(PolyDG)method for contact mechanics that arises in fluid-structure interaction problems.In particular,we introduce a consistent penalization approach to treat the frictionless contact between immersed structures that undergo large displacements.The key feature of the method is that the contact condition can be naturally embedded in the PolyDG formulation,allowing to easily support polygonal/polyhedral meshes.The proposed approach introduced a fixed background mesh for the fluid problem overlapped by the structure grid that is able to move independently of the fluid one.To assess the validity of the proposed approach,we report the results of several numerical experiments obtained in the case of contact between flexible structures immersed in a fluid.

Determination of the Normal Contact Stiffness and Integration Time Step for the Finite Element Modeling of Bristle-Surface Interaction

In finite element modeling of impact,it is necessary to define appropriate values of the normal contact stiffness,Kn,and the Integration Time Step(ITS).Because impacts are usually of very short duration,very small ITSs are required.Moreover,the selection of a suitable value of Kn is a critical issue,as the impact behavior depends dramatically on this parameter.In this work,a number of experimental tests and finite element analyses have been performed in order to obtain an appropriate value of Kn for the interaction between a bristle of a gutter brush for road sweeping and a concrete surface.Furthermore,a suitable ITS is determined.The experiments consist of releasing a steel bristle that is placed vertically at a certain distance from a concrete surface and tracking the impact.Similarly,in the finite element analyses,a beam is modeled in free fall and impacting a surface;contact and target elements are attached to the beam and the surface,respectively.The results of the experiments and the modeling are integrated through the principle of conservation of energy,the principle of linear impulse and momentum,and Newton’s second law.The results demonstrate that,for the case studied,Kn and the impact time tend to be independent of the velocity just before impact and that Kn has a very large variation,as concrete is a composite material with a rough surface.Also,the ratio between the largest height of the bristle after impact and the initial height tends to be constant.

Exact analysis of the orientation-adjusted adhesive full stick contact of layered structures with the asymmetric bipolar coordinates

The adhesion failure has become one dominant factor in determining the reliability and service life of miniaturized devices subject to loadings with arbitrary orientations.This article establishes an adhesive full stick contact model between an elastic half-space and a rigid cylinder loaded in any direction.Using the Papkovich-Neuber functions,the Fourier integral transform,and the asymmetric bipolar coordinates,the exact solution is obtained.Unlike the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts(JKR)model,the present adhesive contact model takes into account the effects of the load direction as well as the coupling of the normal and tangential contact stresses.Besides,it considers the full stick contact which has large values of the friction coefficient between contacting surfaces,contrary to the frictionless contact supposed in the JKR model.The result shows that suitable angles can be found,which makes the contact surfaces difficult to be peeled off or easy to be pressed into.

On the contact width in generalized plain strain JKR model for isotropic solids

Adhesive contact model between an elastic cylinder and an elastic half space is studied in the present paper, in which an external pulling force is acted on the above cylinder with an arbitrary direction and the contact width is assumed to be asymmetric with respect to the structure. Solutions to the asymmetric model are obtained and the effect of the asymmetric contact width on the whole pulling process is mainly discussed. It is found that the smaller the absolute value of Dundurs＇ parameter 13 or the larger the pulling angle O, the more reasonable the symmetric model would be to approximate the asymmetric one.

Approximate Tangent Plane Method for Calculating Surface Deformation in Elastic Contact Problems

A flew numerical method for constructing a pressure distribution to calculate surface elastic deformationcaused by normal contact pressure is developed in this paper. The pressure distribution over one of nonequidistantrectangles is fitted by an approximate tangent plane(ATP), which is formed by five pressure samples. Because thepressure distribution could be expressed as an one order linear polynomial, the iterative expression of elasticdeformation deduced by this method is simple, and the numerical accuracy is higher.

Contact radius of stamps in reversible adhesion

A mechanics model is developed for the contact radius of stamps with pyramid tips in transfer printing.This is important to the realization of reversible control of adhesion,which has many important applications,such as climbing robots,medical tapes,and transfer printing of electronics.The contact radius is shown to scale linearly with the work of adhesion between the stamp and the contacting surface,and inversely with the plane-strain modulus of the stamp. It also depends on the cone angle and tip radius of the stamp,but is essentially independent of details of the tip geometry.

Contact Mechanism of the Ag-doped Trimolybdate Nanowire as An Antimicrobial Agent

Antibacterial Ag-agents are intensively applied as broad spectrum, high-stability, high-efficiency and high-safety inorganic antibacterial agents. We have developed a new kind of antibacterial Ag-agent, namely Ag_2-x(NH_4)xMo_3O_(10) ·3H_2O nanowires(NWs). Carrying Ag atoms in the lattice and Ag-rich nanoparticles on the surface, the Ag-doped NWs show strong antibacterial effects for a variety of bacteria including E.coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans and Aspergil lus niger. By performing systematic comparison experiments, we have proven that the main antibacterial effects are neither resulted from the tiny amount of Ag+ions released from the Ag-doped NWs in aqueous solutions, nor resulted from Ag-rich nanoparticles of fragments of the NWs when they are slowly dissolved in the Martin broth. Instead, the effects are mainly resulted from a contact mechanism, under which, the Ag-doped NWs need to be physically in contact with the bacteria to be eliminated. This is a novel phenomenon observed in the interactions between nanomaterials and live cells, which is worthy of further investigation at the molecular scale. As the Ag-doped NWs are not dissolved in pure water or weak acids, one may find practical antibacterial applications in textile industry and food storage industry for these unique nanomaterials.

Sedimentation of short cylindrical pollutants with mechanical contacts

Lattice Boltzmann method and elastic particle collision model were used to investigate the sedimentation of short cylindrical pollutant particles with mechanical contacts for varying bulk number density ε and terminal Reynolds number ReT. The corresponding experiments were performed as a comparison. The clusters of pollutant particles with an inverted “T” structure were observed, the pollutant particles for high ε and large ReT scattered wider than that for low ε and small ReT. The sedimentation velocities increased suddenly at the initial stage, then decreased drastically, after that swayed around and approached to a steady value. The time to steady state did not depend on ε and ReT. The effect of particle interactions was to hinder the average sedimentation velocity, and hindrance was directly proportional to ε. The orientation distributions of pollutant particles depended on ReT and ε, especially on the former. Both the standard deviations of vertical and horizontal velocity, the former was larger than the latter, were nearly independent on ε and ReT.

Influence of a deep-level-defect band formed in a heavily Mg-doped GaN contact layer on the Ni/Au contact to p-GaN

The influence of a deep-level-defect（DLD） band formed in a heavily Mg-doped GaN contact layer on the performance of Ni/Au contact to p-GaN is investigated. The thin heavily Mg-doped GaN（p^＋＋-GaN） contact layer with DLD band can effectively improve the performance of Ni/Au ohmic contact to p-GaN. The temperature-dependent I–V measurement shows that the variable-range hopping（VRH） transportation through the DLD band plays a dominant role in the ohmic contact. The thickness and Mg/Ga flow ratio of p^＋＋-GaN contact layer have a significant effect on ohmic contact by controlling the Mg impurity doping and the formation of a proper DLD band. When the thickness of the p^＋＋-GaN contact layer is 25 nm thick and the Mg/Ga flow rate ratio is 10.29%, an ohmic contact with low specific contact resistivity of 6.97×10^-4Ω·cm^2 is achieved.

A numerical model to simulate the transient frictional viscoelastic sliding contact

Sliding motion has always been one of the major concerns when it comes to the analysis of viscoelastic contact problems.A new model simulating the transient sliding contact of smooth viscoelastic surfaces is developed in this paper.By taking the dry contact friction and the coupling between shear tractions and normal pressure into account,the effect of the early partial slip period,which is often neglected in the study of viscoelastic sliding contact problems,is investigated numerically.Compared with solutions based on the frictionless assumption,the steady-state pressure profile is found to be slightly different under the effect of the partial slip regime,including a lower peak pressure and the shift of the contacting region in the direction opposite to the sliding motion.Furthermore,the time required for the viscoelastic contact to reach its steady state is delayed owing to the partial slip period preceding the global sliding motion.

Adhesive Contact of Elastic Solids with Self-Affine Fractal Rough Surfaces

The elastic adhesive contact of self-affine fractal rough surfaces against a rigid flat is simulated using the finite element method. An array of nonlinear springs, of which the force-separation law obeys the Lennard–Jones potential, is introduced to account for the interfacial adhesion. For fractal rough surfaces, the interfacial interaction is generally attractive for large mean gaps, but turns repulsive as the gap continuously shrinks. The interfacial interactions at the turning point corresponding to the spontaneous contact are shown for various surfaces. For relatively smooth surfaces, the probability density distributions of repulsion and attraction are nearly symmetric. However, for rougher surfaces, the simulation results suggest a uniform distribution for attraction but a monotonously decreasing distribution with a long tail for repulsion. The pull-off force rises with increasing ratio of the work of adhesion to the equilibrium distance, whereas decreases for solids with a higher elastic modulus and a larger surface roughness. The current study will be helpful for understanding the adhesion of various types of rough solids.

Modeling of Mechanical Behavior of Fractal Rock Joint

The present study shows that naturally developed fracture surfaces in rocks display the properties of self-affine fractals. Surface roughness can be quantitatively characterized by fractal dimension D and the intercept A on the log-log plot of variance: the former describes the irregularity and the later is statistically analogues to the slopes of asperities. In order to confirm the effects of these fractalparameters on the properties and mechanical behavior of rock joints, which have been observed in experiments under both normal andshear loadings, a theoretic model of rock joint is proposed on the basis of contact mechanics. The shape of asperity at contact is assumed to have a sinusoidal form in its representative scale r, with fractal dimension D and the intercept A. The model considers different local contact mechanisms, such as elastic deformation, frictional sliding and tensile fracture of the asperity. The empirical evolution law of surface damage developed in experiment is implemented into the model to up-date geometry of asperity in loading history. The effects of surface roughness characterized by D, A and re on normal and shear deformation of rock joint have been elaborated.

Experimental investigation on surface deformation of soft half plane indented by rigid wedge

In this work, the mechanical behavior of a block of soft material subject to large deformation from a series of wedge-shaped indenters is evaluated. Data fields acquired from digital image correlation （DIC） are compared with the existing theoretical models. The slope angles of the wedges vary from 5° to 73.5°, and the minimum measure- ment uncertainties of the DIC system are established in advance to define the accuracy. It is concluded that the assumptions underpinning the analytical theory make it difficult to characterize large deformation of soft materials during contact. The strain fields are also obtained from the measured displacement field and verify the previously postulated existence of two deformation sectors, namely, a so-called shrinkage sector symmetric to the loading axis and an expansion sector, which become smaller with the increasing load and decreasing wedge angle.

Method of reduction of dimensionality in contact and friction mechanics:A linkage between micro and macro scales

Computer simulations have been an integral part of the technical development process for a long time now.Industrial tribology is one of the last fields in which computer simulations have,until now,played no significant role.This is primarily due to the fact that investigating tribological phenomena requires considering all spatial scales from the macroscopic shape of the contact system down to the micro-scales.In the present paper,we give an overview of the previous work on the so-called method of reduction of dimensionality(MRD),which in our opinion,gives a key for the linking of the micro-and macro-scales in tribological simulations.MRD in contact mechanics is based on the mapping of some classes of three-dimensional contact problems onto one-dimensional contacts with elastic foundations.The equivalence of three-dimensional systems to those of one-dimension is valid for relations of the indentation depth and the contact force and in some cases for the contact area.For arbitrary bodies of revolution,MRD is exact and provides a sort of“pocket edition”of contact mechanics,giving the possibility of deriving any result of classical contact mechanics with or without adhesion in a very simple way.A tangential contact problem with and without creep can also be mapped exactly to a one-dimensional system.It can be shown that the reduction method is applicable to contacts of linear visco-elastic bodies as well as to thermal effects in contacts.The method was further validated for randomly rough self-affine surfaces through comparison with direct 3D simulations.MRD means a huge reduction of computational time for the simulation of contact and friction between rough surfaces accounting for complicated rheology and adhesion.In MRD,not only is the dimension of the space reduced from three to one,but the resulting degrees of freedom are independent(like normal modes in the theory of oscillations).Because of this independence,the method is predestinated for parallel calculation on graphic cards,which brings further acceleration.The method opens completely new possibilities in combining microscopic contact mechanics with the simulation of macroscopic system dynamics without determining the“law of friction”as an intermediate step.

First mushroom-shaped adhesive microstructure:A review

This letter reviews the adhesive and frictional properties of the first mushroom-shaped adhesive microstructure （MSAMS）, which has come a long way from inspiration by the attachment devices evolved in beetles to a large-scale industrial production. It was shown to have an that about twice higher pull-off force compared to a smooth control made from the same material measured on smooth substrates. Pull-off forces measured underwater are even higher than those in air. Moreover, it retained adhesive performance over thousands of attachment cycles and initial adhesive capability could be recovered by washing after being contaminated. In shearing, MSAMS exhibits reduced and stabilized friction in comparison with a smooth control, which demonstrated pronounced stick-slip motion, and shows zero pull-off force in a sheared state, allowing the adhesion to be switched on and off. The presence of a fluid in the contact zone showed adhesion enhancement on both smooth and rough substrates. All these features lead us to conclude that MSAMS may have practical potential in a variety of applications.

Mechanical Analysis of Interface in Coating Structure under Conical Concave Indenter with FEM

The evaluation of mechanical properties of coating structures has always been a very important topic in the fields of mechanics, materials, and machinery. The traditional evaluation methods are easy to produce deviation, because the ratio of coating thickness to substrate thickness is too small. Therefore, accurate analysis and calculation is particularly important. Indentation technology is an important means of coating structure analysis and measurement, the basis of standardized application and analysis of coating structure, and a classical method for accurate analysis and calculation of coating structure. The finite element method is a very good means to analyze and study this kind of problems because of its applicability. Based on the finite element method, this paper analyzes and studies the interface connection form, substrate, and local delamination effects of the indentation behavior of the coating structure under the conical concave indenter. In this paper, the finite element method, which is more convenient for analysis and calculation, is used to analyze the influence of interface connection form, substrate, and local delamination on the coating structure. The results of force displacement, interface normal stress, and interface shear stress are analyzed in detail, and the effects of the three effects on the coating structure are proved. The significance of this study is reflected in: based on the analysis of the three effects of interface connection form, substrate, and local delamination, the mechanical properties of the coating structure are more in-depth, which provides some reference for mechanical engineers to design and test the coating structure.

Specific adhesion of a soft elastic body on a wavy surface

This paper aims at developing a stochastic-elastic model of a soft elastic body adhering on a wavy surface via a patch of molecular bonds. The elastic deformation of the system is modeled by using continuum contact mechanics, while the stochastic behavior of adhesive bonds is modeled by using Bell＇s type of exponential bond association/dissociation rates. It is found that for sufficiently small adhesion patch size or stress concentration index, the adhesion strength is insensitive to the wavelength but decreases with the amplitude of surface undulation, and that for large adhesion patch size or stress concentration index, there exist optimal values of the surface wavelength and amplitude for maximum adhesion strength.

Immunology Mechanism of CD4^＋ CD25^ T Regulatory Cells Acting on Effector T Cells

Objective:To detect the inhibiting co-stimulating molecule CTLA4 and cytokines secreted by Treg cells, and explore the immunology mechanism of T regulatory cells acting on effector T cells in co-cultured system(CCS) and separating-cultured system(SCS). Methods: Detecting the percentage of CTLA4 and CD28 expressed on the Treg cells and effector T cells, and then adding Treg cells to mixed lymphocyte reaction(MLR) system in CCS and TransWell Millicell-PCF SCS, at the same time, adding or not adding anti-IL-10 or anti-TGF-β1 to the reacting systems, examining the inhibitory capacity of Treg cells exerting on the MLR. Results: Compared with effector T cells, Treg cells expressed higher level CTLA4 and secreted much more IL-10 and TGF-β1(P<0.01). The inhibitory capacity of Treg cells co-cultured with effector T cells is much stronger than that in separating cultured group(P<0.01). Moreover, the inhibiting rate of Treg cells exerting on effector T cells through secreting IL-10 was more powerful than that through secreting TGF-β1(P<0.01). Conclusion: Both cell-to-cell contact and cytokines secretion mechanisms are involved in CD4 +CD25 + Treg cells operating function. However, the former is more important. Intrestingly, we for the first time point found that IL-10 plays more powerful roles than TGF-β1 in the cytokines secretion mechanism.

Investigation on the adhesive contact and electrical performance for triboelectric nanogenerator considering polymer viscoelasticity

The triboelectric nanogenerator(TENG)is a new mechanical energy harvesting technology in which the typical viscoelastic material polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)is widely used.Micro-/nano-textures are often fabricated on the PDMS surface to enhance the electrical performance of TENG.As the contact region decreases to micro/nano scale,the adhesive forces become dominant.However,there is still a lack of contact mechanics model considering both material viscoelasticity and the adhesive forces to guide the surface texture design.In this paper,the explicit data-fitting formulas based on the fractional derivative Zener model are firstly derived to identify the viscoelastic constitutive parameters,which can not only avoid the influence of the initial contact point,but also ensure the accurate conversion between the creep compliance and the relaxation modulus function.Then a viscoelastic-adhesive contact model based on the fitted constitutive parameters is established,and the numerical algorithms such as bi-conjugate stabilized(Bi-CGSTAB)method and fast Fourier transform(FFT)technique are employed to analyze the effects of material viscoelasticity and texture sizes on the contact and electrical performance.It is shown that,compared with results from the elastic-adhesive contact model,the contact area ratio based on the viscoelastic-adhesive contact model is significantly larger,which is much closer to the experimental results.Among the selected sizes of pyramid texture,the higher electrical performance can be obtained from the textures with a smaller pitch and a larger width under the heavier applied load.This study can provide a theoretical reference for the design of viscoelastic surface texture of TENG.